Ben Plumley

Ben Plumley is Chief Executive Officer of Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation. In this position, he leads an HIV-focused, non-profit consulting organization, overseeing a diverse set of HIV prevention and treatment programs which target vulnerable populations worldwide, including women, youth, injection drug users, commercial sex workers, prison populations and men who have sex with men.

Ben is a health and development strategist and advocate, dedicated to the global fight against AIDS. Beginning in the late 1980s he worked with London’s HIV positive community –- particularly HIV positive refugees from Eastern Africa. His career has subsequently spanned the private sector, United Nations, and non-governmental organizations. Most recently he was Vice President for Global Access and Partnerships with Johnson & Johnson, forging innovative public private collaborations to develop and deliver AIDS-related technological breakthroughs for developing countries –- including an innovative public-private sector collaboration with the TB Alliance to co-develop the first new TB treatment in forty years.

Ben previously served as the Director of the UNAIDS Executive Office from 2003 to 2006. In this role he supported the Executive Director, Dr Peter Piot, managing high-level political and management issues, including the formation of UNAIDS’ policies on HIV Prevention and HIV services for injecting drug users.

In 2001 he founded the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS with Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, growing the organization’s membership from 17 to 170 companies. As well as building a new NGO from scratch, Ben defined and helped companies implement the principles of business action against AIDS: workplace-based prevention and treatment programs, outreach and support to local communities, and policy, advocacy support to national AIDS strategies.

In the 1990s, Ben worked for Glaxo Wellcome and the UK Government’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority.

Ben was born in the UK and educated at Cambridge University. He was deeply involved in the UK’s emerging response to AIDS, working with a number of London-based charities, including as a buddy volunteer for the Terence Higgins Trust.